New York, United States | AFP | Pop superstar Janet Jackson has split from her husband, the Qatari tycoon Wissam Al Mana, just months after they had a baby, reports said Monday. Several celebrity news sites, quoting unnamed sources, said that the 50-year-old younger sister of late King of Pop Michael …
Read More »US strike destroyed 20 percent of Syria’s working jets
Washington, United States | AFP | Last week’s US strike on a Syrian air base destroyed a fifth of President Bashar al-Assad’s working warplanes, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Monday. “The assessment of the Department of Defense is that the strike resulted in the damage or destruction of fuel and …
Read More »Pulitzer Prizes honor US election coverage
New York, United States | AFP | Campaign reporting that exposed misleading claims by now US President Donald Trump about charitable giving and commentary about last year’s divisive US presidential campaign won Pulitzer Prizes on Monday. David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post won the national reporting award for what the board …
Read More »Trump drops China bashing during warm Xi summit
Palm Beach, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump ditched his trademark anti-China bombast, hailing an “outstanding” relationship with counterpart Xi Jinping at the end of a superpower summit Friday overshadowed by events in Syria. “We have made tremendous progress in our relationship with China,” Trump said effusively …
Read More »Iran’s Rouhani says ‘this man in America’ abetting Syria terrorists
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that “terrorists” were applauding his US counterpart Donald Trump for launching a missile strike on an airbase of his Syrian government ally. But he backed calls for an independent inquiry into a suspected chemical weapons attack on a …
Read More »Republicans go ‘nuclear,’ clear way for Trump court pick
Washington, United States | AFP | US Republicans ditched decades of tradition Thursday by changing Senate rules to ensure Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, bypassing the first-ever successful opposition blockade of a high-court nominee. President Donald Trump’s pick, embraced by conservatives but opposed by most Democrats, failed to …
Read More »Twitter rejects US effort to unmask anti-Trump users
Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter filed suit Thursday against the US government, asking a court to back its refusal to hand over the identities of users claiming to be dissenting federal employees. The lawsuit revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection had sought …
Read More »Moscow says US has no objective data on ‘monstrous crime’ in Syria
Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Thursday said US allegations that Syrian forces carried out a deadly chemical attack are not based on “objective” information. “We consider a much more measured approach necessary and do not think it is possible to surrender oneself to hasty conclusions about what happened …
Read More »Trump, China’s Xi look to navigate minefield in first summit
Palm Beach, United States | AFP | Donald Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping at his sun-kissed Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, a high-stakes first summit replete with pitfalls for both leaders. The stage is set for a carefully choreographed dinners with family and displays of bonhomie, but beneath …
Read More »US to end funding for UN Population Fund over abortion claims
Washington, United States | AFP | The US government plans to stop funding the United Nations Population Fund because of the organization’s “coercive” family planning practices, including providing abortions, officials in Washington said late Monday. According to a State Department official, President Donald Trump has instructed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson …
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